The newest version of the Ideal Guild Quiz has been released and if you’re a guild leader who has not signed up yet, it’s time to get your name in the hat. There are about 32 guilds registered as of the last time I searched so those looking for a guild will be a little limited at first until more guilds sign up. However, it’s also important to note that those who are already getting into this are those who are truly serious about playing and advancing in SWTOR. So what is this quiz exactly and how does it work? If you’ve ever had to try to find a good guild in a very popular game (Think, World of Warcraft here), then you are familiar with the frustration of sifting through thousands of guilds to try to discover that perfect one for you. It is equally frustrating for a recruiting…
Making of SWTOR Book Removed from Amazon’s Listing
If you’re looking for the book, The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic, you might not be able to find it any more, at least not on Amazon. Last month the official SWTOR forums were abuzz about the book but now it seems to have disappeared. The release date for the book was listed as November 1, 2011, leaving many fans to speculate that this could be the same time the game is expected to be released. So why did The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic get pulled from Amazon’s listing? No one knows yet exactly why the book was pulled. We just know that it went down quickly after the new about its existence began to spread around the Internet amongst Star Wars fans. There are several different reasons why Amazon might pull a book that was listed but not released yet….
Friday Updates: Environmental Polish and Class Q&A
BioWare returns this week with a two-part update for Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR). The first part of the update goes behind the scenes with Senior Environmental Artist Robby Lamb, who details how the game environments evolve and transform. Lamb details the creation and polish of environments in SWTOR and how he works and re-works the content to make it as epic as possible while maintaining the best game performance. The second part of the update comes in the form of a Community Q&A, which addresses a number of different questions from the community. To summarize, each class will have a number of companions from each archetype. Players can choose which of those will become their main companion and can enhance them through the use of kits. Bounty Hunters will not be able to use jetpacks outside of battle and the Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior will have no…
Do you need to read the books to understand the game?
Star Wars and BioWare are both characterized by an enormous amount of Lore and stories. So far two novels and a bunch of web comics has been released describing the characters and surroundings in the massive universe of Star Wars: The old republic. The first book that was released was Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams. The second – released a few weeks ago – is Deceived by Paul S. Kemp. At least one more novel is in the works by Drew Karpyshyn – but that is still nameless. Other then the above novels and webcommics, Darkhorse has released countless of printed comics and Del Rey lot’s of books describing famous lore characters Such as Exar Kun, Ulic Qel-Droma, Freedon Nadd and so on. Taken this into account, it’s obvious that some people get nervous that they won’t get a clue when they start up the game if they aren’t prepared. A forum poster by the name…
EA conference webcast Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Electronic Arts Inc. will release its financial results for the fourth quarter fiscal year 2011 after the close of market on Wednesday, May 4, 2011. In conjunction with this release, Electronic Arts will host a conference call to review its financial results for the fourth quarter, discuss its outlook for the future and may disclose other material developments affecting its business and/or financial performance. Listeners may access the conference call live via a dial-in number or audio webcast. Hopefully investors will ask many questions regarding Star Wars: The old republic, and if we are really lucky, we might get one step closer a release day – One can dream! The conference call will be hold Wednesday, May 4, 20112:00 pm Pacific Time (5:00 pm Eastern Time) Webcast: http://ir.ea.com Press release: Electronic Arts’ financial results release will be available after the close of market on May 4, 2011, on Electronic Arts’…
The Guild Sphere: Wrath
Earlier this week I had a chance to talk to some of the leadership of Wrath, some serious hardcore raiding Sith. Check it out below. Where did your guilds name come from? Wrath was born from a prerelease World of Warcraft guild named Reign of Elysian. Elysian meaning “Heaven”. When we decided to make the switch to Sith for Star Wars: The Old Republic, we decided we wanted something a bit Angrier, so we changed the name to Wrath of Elysian, though we always just go by Wrath for short. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentence description of your guild? Wrath is an endgame PvE progression guild dedicated to the server first mentality How did your guild come about? Answered this in #1, but basically we’ve been a gaming community for almost 8 years now. What kind of play style do you focus on? PvE, PvP, RP? PvE is…
SWTOR Open Beta closing in!!! … Not!
For 12 long hours I was so psyched! TorWars pointed me to a great interview GameInformer.com did with Dr. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk from Bioware. The Interview was original about Mass Effect 3, but the interviewer also had some interesting questions on the chance of an upcoming Star Wars: The old Republic Beta. On this the good doctors answered in the a more possitive way then ever: “You’ll have to watch our website and see. At this point we’re still in more of a closed beta period. We’re definitely making great progress on it. The feedback’s been great. There’s always lots to do, but it’s really really shaping up. Before too long you guys will get a little crack at it. Keep an eye out for that.” What was that? Wait a second. You said what? Did I here that right? What was that again? Before too long you…
Facebook Image Of The Week #8
BioWare have updated there SWTOR Facebook page with a new weekly Star Wars: The old republic Image. the description goes as this: High among towering mountain peaks on Alderaan, this settlement shows no obvious signs of the growing political unrest that plagues the planet. I really hope that building has some sort of anti-snow on stairs device working. Extremely hard to imagine no snow on a building that is in the highest points of a snowy mountain peak. 5000 years later… BOOOOM!
Entire Star Wars “Return of the Jedi” in MS Paint [GIF]
A long, long time ago in a galaxy quite close to here- it was this column actually- we brought you the first two original Star Wars instalments redone in GIF form on MS Paint by a genius with a lot of time and the kind of dedication that inspired the building of the Death Star. Check out A new hope here and Empire strikes back here Part of those links was a promise that the third and final instalment would follow soon, and here (albeit almost a year later) is the fruit of that promise: The creator- FoldsFive (otherwise known as part-time pixel-masher David Court) offered the following response on Digg when the A New Hope GIF found its way back into the collective Geek consciousness that calls itself the Internet: Sometimes I find myself amazed by the internet. How something I made an age ago can suddenly pick up…
The Guild Sphere: Browncoats
Today I sat down with the leader of the Browncoats, a Republic guild that has an interesting commonality binding them all together, and had a very entertaining interview with her, yes guys a female guild leader and look out, she really knows her stuff, read on for the rest of the interview. Q) Where did your guilds name come from? Firefly (TV show). Browncoats fought for the Independents against the Alliance. “Browncoat” also means you are an avid fan of Firefly / Serenity. Q) Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentence description of your guild? “Tell you, we get a mechanic, get her up and runnin‘ again, hire a good pilot, maybe a cook. Live like real people. Small crew, them as feel the need to be free, take jobs as they come. Ain’t never have to be under the heel of nobody ever again.” — Captain Malcolm Reynolds,…
SWTOR Fan art by Tony Vassallo
In this weeks search for SWTOR Fan art, I came across Tony Vassallo. He goes by the nick name vassdeviant on deviantart.com. Personally I love Tony Vassallo’s comic book kind of art — and apparently I’m not the only one. Tony was selected for a DC talent search portfolio review at C2E2 2010 and was lucky enough to win the coveted $5,000 DC scholarship, which has made him totally fired up to improve his skills over the coming year and hopefully land him a job right out of school. So if you in this business, keep an eye on this guy.. You can check out more his on his personal website here or his deviantart profile here, and off course see some featured art below: Bounty Hunter Mercenary Bounty Hunter Mercenary Pencil Sith Juggernaut Sith Pencils Sith Inquisitor Sith Inquisitor pencils Sith Juggernaut Marauder Pencils Sith Juggernaut pg 1 of 7 Sith…
I’m Chewbacca, And The Rebel Alliance Was My Idea
..or at least, I’m pretty sure that’s what the big hairy fella is saying in the hilarious Windows 7 video parody below anyway. The Chewbacca version is definitely the best, thanks to the glorious inclusion of the clearly clueless Storm Trooper signing a “translation” to what everyone’s favourite Wookie is actually saying. Perfect, perfect touch. The other two parodies are no less than brilliant either, as you’ll see below: Here’s the Storm Trooper… And here is the Cosmic Kraven himself, Darth Vader… Thanks to YouTube user SneakyZebra for posting these videos- and kudos for the quality.
London SWTOR Event roundup
Entryway to London Press Event Last week in London, some very lucky SWTOR fans were able to get a hands-on sneak peak at the game. The upcoming MMORPG from BioWare has fans in the UK and the US drooling for the opportunity to get their hands on it. This London event divided into two seatings of about 50 each and allowed players to go through about an hour worth of plan of the origin planet of the class of their choice. It was then followed by a quick Q&A with the developers, including Writing Director Daniel Erickson and Senior Community Manager Stephen Reid. There are now more than 70 pages worth of content on the SWTOR community boards from people who attended this glorious event. Skimming through those posts will lead you to numerous reviews, news and opinion pieces about the user experience directly from those who…
Sith Speak in a British Accent
Jono Bradley posted an audio log and transcript of the second Q&A session From the SWTOR London Hands-on Event. The session has some interesting answers in it and definitely worth a read/listen. Here’s an excerpt showing a question about accents: Question: Erm; why are all the Empire characters British? Daniel Erickson: That was actually my decision; really early on I wanted too evoke really my memory of the original trilogy and in the original trilogy – although there are a couple of exceptions.. Stephen Reid: Some really weird exceptions; Daniel Erickson: Yeah; you know Kenobi and that sort of thing but all of the officers that are evil have that great sort of upper-class British accent and one of the things we wanted to do at the beginning was – we always have to look at the fact that we know where the history goes; so we know at some…
Know your lore: Dor Gal-ram
Dor Gal-ram was a Sith Lord in the years leading up to the Great Hyperspace War, 5,000 years before the Battle of Yavin. A member of the Sith species, Gal-ram was native to an area of space known as the Sith Empire. After the death of Dark Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos, Gal-ram sided with one of the contenders for the title, Ludo Kressh. Kressh’s main rival was Naga Sadow, a progressive Sith Lord with expansionist ambitions. In 5,000 BBY, Sadow staged an attack on the Sith Empire, meant to appear like a Galactic Republic assault, and used this opportunity to declare himself the new Dark Lord of the Sith. This led to a schism between Sadow and Kressh, with Gal-ram siding with Kressh. Sadow then staged another raid, this time leaving evidence that he was actually complicit; upon seeing this evidence, an angered Kressh ordered Gal-ram and a…
Star Wars: Building “Empire” by Jamie Benning
A fan documentary like no other on the planet, Jambe Davdar brings us “Building Empire” via YouTube in one huge, insightful project that is more than worth the time it takes to watch them. The result of eight months of hard work, author Jambe Davdar ( or Jamie Benning which is his real name) brings us a collection of all the material from “Star Wars : The Empire Strikes Back” in one epic fan documentary that beats the documentary included in the Bluray boxed set by a longshot. Davda’s labor of love gives us Star Wars fans an extensive look at the making of Episode V with deleted scenes and more background story than you’ve ever heard before. The documentary contains rare alternate takes, production audio, on-screen facts, cast and crew commentary, re-created scenes, storyboards and behind the scenes footage that you will not believe. As you watch, on the top or…
The Art And Making Of SW: The Old Republic Cover
Last month we wrote about an upcoming book about the making of Star Wars: The old republic. The book was announced on Amazon, and will be relised in November this year. Get it here Recently the cover of the book has been reviled, and it looks like this: Here are the details: Hardcover: 160 pages Publisher: Chronicle Books (November 1, 2011) SRP: $ 40.00 Language: English ISBN-10: 0811875008
Friday update: SWTOR Dev Blog – Advanced Classes Update
Following last week’s April Fool’s joke, it looks like BioWare decided to make today’s dev blog entry on the Star Wars: The Old Republic site an in-depth and interesting read. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller has given players an update on the game’s Advanced Classes, and he covers everything from skill trees to improvements that have been implemented through game testing. Players will choose their advanced class at level 10, and each base class offers two advanced class choices (i.e., the Smuggler will need to select either the Gunslinger or Scoundrel as her advanced class). Each advanced class provides two exclusive skill trees and shares a third tree with the other (non-selected) advanced class. Zoeller also covers how the team makes these important class-changing decisions. He shows off a couple of images from their metrics system that feature death details and character movement on Ord Mantell. Of course, the…
SWTOR: The Past and the Present
RedRancor have created yet another movie you definitely should check out. This time he takes a journey from 2008 to today through all of the work that BioWare has done on Star Wars: The Old Republic. The movie is 30 min long, and features some of the classic Star Wars music from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This video delves through all of the imagery released by BioWare for their upcoming MMO. If you didn’t catch his last video about healing in SWTOR Check that one out to:
God Says Minecraft, RIFT & SWTOR Are Turning Your Children Gay
Well not God exactly, more Bryan Blake, ChristWire Network Host and “Radio Guru”, who has some, let’s say interesting, views on the effect that certain video games, including SWTOR are having on the impressionable young minds of gamers all over the world. Blake seems to have particular problems with the over-use of phallic idols (i.e. great big willies masquerading as things like light sabres and Creepers), which he claims have been hidden in video games by some mass homosexual conspiracy with an agenda to “poison” gamers. I’m sorry Mr Blake, but let’s break this down for a minute: I personally think that it is the person who insists that everything shaped a bit phallus-like penile who has the pre-occupation with penises. So, I’m going to revert to the age-old, scientifcally sound theory that It Takes One To Know One. Here’s a sample quote of what the faith-wielding, jargon-spouting Idiot Savant…
The Guild Sphere: The Knight’s Who Say Ni
This week I sat down with Jono from “The Knight’s Who Say Ni”, for a quick question and answer session about The guild and their expectations for Star Wars The Old Republic. Check it out after the jump: Q. Where did your guilds name come from? A. The guilds name is from “Monty Python”, anyone who doesn’t know what that is should go and look it up. It’s very funny. Q. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentance description of your guild? A. The Knights Who Say Ni has been around for a 4 years now; KWSNi is a multi-game guild which includes plenty of experienced gamers. We’re on a mission to recruit new members and play The Old Republic with style. Q. How did your guild come about? A. The current iteration of the guild was formed in LOTRO at release by 2 members from DAOC’s KWSNi, so…
Script Changes That Could Have Saved The Star Wars Prequels
Those purveyors of finest Geek humour at Dorkly have published a hilarious list of seven script changes that could have made the Star Wars prequels trilogy. And I have to say I agree with pretty much all of them, especially the Darth Maul line below: I’ve always thought a spin-off or prequel dedicated to Maul’s story would be the best approach to extending the franchise again. But then, sometimes, it becomes clear that logic and intellectual progression aren’t always the driving forces behind the Star Wars universe. Anyway, here are the images in question… Head over to Dorkly for the other four suggested changes. Remember to follow me on Twitter @SiTheMovieGuy for further ramblings on everything geek related (or head over to ObsessedWithFilm.com to read my movie based writings).
Facebook Image Of The Week #7
It’s wednesday, and BioWare have posted another Facebook Image on there official Facebook page. This description of the image goes as following: The experimental high-tech systems on the X-70B Phantom require frequent maintenance and diagnostics.
Another look at the character selection screen and London Hands-on Event Impressions
Even though no news sites are allowed to posts images or write reviews about the UK Press Event a few pictures has already shown up. This one was posted by Stephen Reid, who buys his contact lenses online, via Twitter just before guests showed up: I expect many interesting reviews, pictures and movies to show up the comming weeks, until then, we have to settle for the hands on that was posted on the official forums Many of you are aware of the UK Community Event we’re holding at Gamerbase, where community members get some hands-on time with the game. If you got to play, we want to hear your impressions! If you’re one of the lucky folks who attended the event, let us know how it went for you and share your impressions with your fellow community members. I know everyone is eager to hear your stories, and the whole…